Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary or type the term on which you want to search.

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solution

a popular Internet and computer marketing buzzword that refers to what a particular device or application can do for a user.

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sort

to arrange items such as records, individual words, or files in a specific way. For example, the names in a telephone directory would be sorted alphabetically.

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sound card

a printed circuit board that allows a computer to record and play sound such as stereo music and MIDI files. Although generic sound cards come as standard equipment with most off-the-shelf computers, the term implies an added feature, as a card is an expansion (circuit) board.

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sound player

a component of a Web browser that allows a user to play sound.

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source

a common computer term meaning the point of origination for any number of data items such as files or folders. For example, if a file were to be copied from a computer’s hard disk to a floppy disk, the source directory would be the hard disk while the destination or target would be the floppy. Source is the opposite of target.

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source code

program instructions written in a particular programming language. To view HTML source code, go to any Web page, click on View in the upper menu bar and select Source. The unusual display of characters and symbols you see is the source code for the page.

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spam

unsolicited commercial offers sent via email or posted to an online public forum such as a news group or message board. Spam is electronic junkmail sent usually to a large mailing list. It is widely considered a nuisance because spam consumes both time and considerable bandwidth. However, some feel that the campaign against commercial mass emailing is overblown considering the ease with which a recipient can dispose of the message (a mouse click is all it takes). Spam can become particularly annoying when it provides a link to a pornographic Website that children can access. It is unclear where the term originated, though it is thought to have come from either Monty Python’s ditty that repeats the word spam, spam, spam... thus, the reference to duplicated messages, or from the processed meat product produced by Hormel that some consider unpalatable.

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spank the keyboard

an amusing expression meaning to turn a keyboard upsidedown and gently, yet firmly pat particles of debris free.

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speech recognition

the ability for a software application to understand spoken human commands and act on them. The challenge with voice recognition technology lies in the ability for the program to distinguish contrasting patterns in the way people speak. Many of the applications available using voice recognition are word processing programs that transform the spoken word into text.

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speech synthesis

software with the ability to read text files and translate the text into spoken words. Although unable to mimic a human voice perfectly, many such applications do a commendable job of generating recognizable speech in both male and female tones. Speech synthesis applications are also used for automated telephone inquiries. For example, a credit card holder can call a customer service number almost any time of the day, and after keying in his account number, receive computer generated information in the form of synthesized human speech. Additionally, speech synthesis can be particularly useful for sight-impaired individuals.